What If... Agatha Went to Hollywood?

 "Wow! That chemistry was hotter than the Hindenburg!"

I love the style of this, all late '30s Hollywood with opening titles to match, a massive contemporary musical number, pop culture references like the above and the Hollywoodland sign (not Hoyywood, yet) as a nice touch. And it's interesting to mix up Agatha Harkness with the world of Eternals and Celestials and the rapport between Howard Stark and Jarvis that we know so well from Agent Carter.

I'll be honest, though: I've only seen The Eternals once and there hasn't since been much follow-up. I just about remembered the Dreaming Celestial and Arishem's secret agenda to treat Earth as expendable. And if I'm a little vague on this stuff, surely many others, even those who try to keep up with the MCU, like myself, willbe in a similar situation?

Still, this works. I wouldn't say it's an absolute triumph, but it works. Kathryn Hahn can elevate anything just by being herself, and the script has lots of fun and clever touches- I love the bit where Howard casually and cheerfully reveals that he's well aware that Agatha is using real magic and Kingo is a powerful alien robot thingy, but it fine with it as it saves him money on special effects.

Overall, then, a nice little curiosity. And heavy hints that other Celestials will be back for a sequel. I wonder... is this a hint that the Eternals and Celestials will be used again in the MCU at some point?

Agatha All Along: Maiden Mother Crone

 "I do tend to... kill my coven members."

I suppose, in terms of bare plot, and certainly in comparison to recent episodes, what happens in this finale is quite simplle. We see a pregnant Agatha in the 1750s with her son Nicholas Scratch, wandering around killing witches to survive. Yet Death was supposed to take Nicky at birth. She grants Agatha what turns out to be six extra years, but in the end (and, as a parent, on balance I agree) it's more heartbreaking to lose a child of six than a newborn you had never known.

So this is the truth of what happened in the past... although how Agatha came to become Death's lover (like Thanos!) is not explored. Yet, perhaps not surprisingly after last episode... the Witch's Road was a lie, born ofva song she devised for Nicky and turned into a myth intended only as a trap for her witch victims. Agatha was as surprised as anyone when this time the Road appeared... but it was all Billy.

So that's it. Otherwise it's all character- Agatha bonding with her son in 18th century colonial America while cheerfully being a serial killer of witches. How Billy reminds her of her son, hence the fondness. How she would have killed all the witches anyway... but Jen (the only actual comics character!) survives... is she now  going to meet "Ted"?

Not, perhaps, the greatest finale ever, but I enjoyed it. And, as Joss Whedon once did in Buffy, it's brave and iteresting of Jac Schaeffer to allow the penultimate episode the true mantle of finale.

Agatha All Along: Follow Me My Friend / To Glory at the End

 "So, Agatha's ex is death".

"That also makes sense..."

Wow. So much happens here in forty-odd minutes. Agatha All Along has been a slow burn, but these last episodes, with all the cleverly set up reveals, have been incredible.

So Rio (reference to the River Styx or summat?) literally is Death: we see Alice meeting her at the moment of death, incredulous that she should die now, upon the lifting of the curse, in a scene very reminiscent of similar scenes in Sandman, although we don't talk about Neil Gaiman these days. We also see some very cool subtle skull effects on her face, which is nicely done.

But wow.I mean, Agatha passes the last trialon the Witch's Road- just- but this is almost an afterthought. We discover that it was Agatha who bound Jennifer, and she is thus able to rather dramatically unbind herself. It's hinted that Agatha did not do the terible things to her son Nicky that everyone supposes, but istaking on the opprobrium to avoid something worse- for next episode, no doubt.

Then we have the episode-long  see-sawing of whether or not Agatha will betray Billy. She doesn't, she does... and then she doesn't, seemingly dying for him.

Yet the end- so clever, with all the elements of the Rosad being within Billy's bedroom- seems to hint that bigger and even more fundamental reveals are to come. Wow.

One more to go...

Agatha All Along: Death's Hand in Mine

 "We can be culturally offended later..."

Yeah, I know. They're all dressed like famous witches from popular culture- Wicked Witch of the West, Maleficent, etc... but they do have the tendency to be the Disney versions, don't they? Gosh, I wonder why that is.

Grumbling about the corporate cultural appropriation of folk culture aside, this episode is a thing of genius from the beginning to that wonderful and highly appropriate Jim Croce song at the end, as Lilia's entire life goes full circle. The little apparent lapses from Lilia suddenly make sense as we follow the conversation from her own, very timey-wimey perspective. It's so sad: she only gets to find fulfilment and purpose just before she dies. But wow, what a triumph, what a character and what a tour de force from Patti LuPone.

Also... Rio is literally Death? As in Thanos' lover Death? And... she's Agatha's ex? Wow. We get a lot of minor answers here- Lilia cast the sigil- but that's quite the reveal. What's her angle, and is she going to be showing up in all sorts of other contexts?

Overall, though, this is near perfection. The superb sets. the gleefully cliched trial. And the funny, tragic and incredibly clever script. Wow.

Agatha All Along: Familiar by My Side

 "Don't you dare feel guilty about your talent!"

And this is where we realise how clever Agatha All Along is, I've no doubt much cleverer than I've grasped,. This episode is, yes, a flashback, to the Teen's background. But it's so awfully clever that we see all thosesame scenes between him and Agatha in the first episode, but this time as part of his narrative.

And the whole flashback is so well handled. We follow William Kaplan, an ordinary teen, living in Westview,  just having had his Bar Mitzvah... and that night he suffers a permanent amnesia. It's hinted throughout that another personality has taken over, nicely laying seeds. He and his boyfriend (Eddie is a very nice kid indeed).

The conspiracy theorist chap reminded me of Clive from Rose in Doctor Who, albeit giving off much stronger nutter vibes... the irony being that everything he's saying is true.And (Easter egg) in a certain light he looks a bit like Quicksilver...

So... Teen, whose words we finally see and hear without the sigil, is Billy Maximoff, and he's looking for his brother, as Agatha so entertainingly works out. It seems the rest of the coven are dead?

The whole episode looks great, delivers bombshells that have really been earned, and both of its two leads are extraordinary. This just keeps getting better and better.

Agatha All Along: Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power

 "We have to ouija."

"It's not a verb!"

At first, this seems like yet another test on the Road and just another episode in what we supposedc to be the series format... but no: this episode pulls the rug out from us and does it superbly. Despite the splendidly meta riffing on broomsticks at the start, with everyone hating how they're both a terrible cliche anda symbol of female domesticity (good point), the humour is much less foregrounded here, despite Agatha's initial witty efforts. Insyead things get surprisingly dark.

The ouija scenes (P-U-N-I-S-H A-G-A-T-H-A) are bloody terrifying... and so is Agatha's mother. But we're reminded that, witty and entertaining protagonist though she is, and capable of what she thinks to be maternal love, is not actually a very nice person simply becaudse she's the main character. She's done terrible things, and is by no means a reformed character.

... Indeed, Teen aside, she has no actual friends among the coven, as we soon discover. All of them are quite happy to let Agatha be punished, and survive.

And then unexpected things happen. Alice dies! Teen turns against Agatha... and all of them. We discover who he is... and he's not Agatha's son, but someone else's entirely.

Wow. Nicely done. Agatha All Along continues to toy with out naive exoectations at every turn of what we may think we're watching.

Agatha All Along: If I Can't Reach You / Let My Song Teach You

 "You don't have to know a person's name to know who they are..."

I've enjoyed Agatha All Along up until now, but this episode is another level. It's superb. Suddenly this is feeling like first class television drama. We've got to know the characters, now we get the deeper drama... alongside the wit we've come to expect. And it all looks amazing, too.

Agatha's callousness about Sharon is hilarious. As it the fact that a new green witch has to be summoned, and it's Rio. Oops. Yet she and Agatha have a truly fascinating and nuances dynamic- lovers, arch enemies, something very deep indeed.

The A story here is Alice and her generational curse, all very cleverly plotted and unveiled. Perfectly, the curse is expunged through rock 'n' roll. A song, as a protection spell... a superb twist.

And then there's the hints as to the teen's identity: is he Agatha's son? Her upset at him being hurt suggests she feels he might be, but Rio says not. The sigil confuses things, but apparently a sigil isvdestroyed once it's no longer needed. I love the ideas in this show.

We also get hints as to Rio's backstory... Agatha is her "scar" and made her hurt someone? Oh, and why does Lilia seem perfectly lucid most of the time but occasionally forget things? So much is going on. I'm loving this.

Agatha All Along: Through Many Miles / Of Tricks and Trials

" He's not in the coven. And he's underage..."

Once again, this episode is filled with wit, fun, and four witch characters we're a;ready getting to know and enjoy... although, as ever, Kathryn Hahn's performance is utterly wonderful. And we get a possible hint of the format: four types of witch- divination, green, potion and whatever Agatha is- and four trials from the Road.

But, simple though the format is- a posh house, a timer, poisoned wine ("Ugh! Cheap!"), and a race against the clock for Jennifer to make a suitable potion- it's so much more than that. Each character has a weird flashback, possibly telling us something. Jen is seemingly drowned by a man in early 20th century clothing. Alice seems to be facing a curse passed through generations from mother to daughter. And... did Agatha give her son to Mephisto (first MCU mention?) for a magical book?

Oh, and who is the Teen?

Yet it all looks brilliant, and the conceit works perfectly not only in entertaining us but in making us feel that wealready know all of these characters. But... Sharon is dead? There has to be more to her, surely? Regardless, I'm loving this.

Agatha All Along: Circle Sewn with Fate / Unlock Thy Hidden Gate

 "Witches like you are the reason people think we poison apples, and steal children, and eat babies."

"Babies are delicious..."

This is, of course, a wnderful piece of television. Agatha is a glorious protagonist- a baddie, and unashamedly so. Witty, humorous, amoral and delightfully free wit all the meta humour.

I've no idea where this is going, of course, but it's fun. The only characters I know from the comics are Agatha herself and a version of Jennifer Kale, not that I have in fact read Steve Gerber's Man-Thing issues. I suspect the fact we (and Agatha) are censored so very diegetically as to who the teen is means he's someone we may have heard of. But otherwise this is continuity-lite. Oh, and it's an almost entirely female cast with one gay boy. This is going to annoy all the right people. Good.

This episode is a fun riff on a kind of dark fairytale structure, which is of course enormous fun... and they all get into the road just before Agatha's hooded assassins arrive. Our motley crew is now on the road, and I have no idreawhere this is going, or who or what all those animals are. But I'm proper hooked.

Agatha All Along: Seekest Thou the Road

 "Did you know that it's a universally acknowledged truth that a lasy cop cannot be good at her job and have a happy home life at the same time"

Just one episode... and, yeah, on present evidence this is going to be as good as WandaVision. Jac Schaeffer, at this point, can seemingly do no wrong.

We 're in Westview, and Agatha is apparently a maverick detective in a cop show, which allows for all sorts of fun with the genre and winys to the fourth wall, from assaulting a suspect to a boss who boss who appears to be the very person for whom the word "lugubrious" was coined. Best of all, of course, is the spoof opening titles proclaiming the show to be based on a Danish original, a nice genre touch.

Of course, we don't see the face of the mudrdered woman... but, of course, it's Wanda. And hints of both Wanda and the Darkhold slowly penetrate through the layers of Agatha's reality in time for a showdown with the rather awesome Rio Vidal.I have no idea where this is going, but it's awesome. The closing titles themselves, with Donovan and every witch in popular culture to which Disney has access, are a thing of wonder. More please.

WandaVision: The Series Finale

 "Your power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme. It is your destiny to destroy the world."

Now that's how you do a series finale. Satisfying, action-packed, eventful, and full of several little geeky Easter Eggs.

The main A plot is, of course, the battle between Wanda and Agatha, which is epic, cool and full of revelations. The Darkhold makes its MCU debut, and Agatha claims that the Scarlet Witch has her own chapter... and gives the above quote. Ominoud. As is the fact that we end up with a maturer Wanda, having accepted what she's done and the people she's hurt (the scene where the citizens of Westview literally beg Wanda is both powerful and necessary), flying away to explore the full extent of her magical nature. Agatha's fate is an act of almost fairytale cruelty, forced to live indefinitely as her sitcom character.

Then there's the white Vision. Those of us who remember John Byrne's run on West Coast Avengers at the end of the '80s are well aware we need to be alarmed. But in the end we get a fight between Visions which is both cool and satisfyingly resolved.

It's a busy episode, perhaps. Darcy skewers naughty old Hayward but that brief moment is pretty much all that we see of her. Woo gets to look cool in the end, and Monica (still not Captain Marvel- yet) gets a nice little post-credits sequence with a Skrull. But it is, in the MCU way, perfectly balanced between story beats, action and character. 

It's true that Wanda (and Vizh) seem to get over the twins not being real a little too easily. But overall this is a superb ending to a magnificent series.

WandaVision: Previously On...

 "The only way forward is back..."

This penultimate episode is, in its metatextual way, a flashback episode, and thus full of exposition. It's also rather serious, being full of the trauma of Wanda's tragic life, meaning the metatextuality can't be allowed ro get too fun- although Kathryn Hahn is a hoot (in a good way) as Agatha. Nevertheless, the episode is necessarily formulaic and, while well-executed, was never going to be the highlight of the season.

There's good stuff here, though, starting with Agatha's origin in Salem, Massachusetts in 1693, hinting at unseen depths of MCU magic lore. Wanda's tragic life is necessary to be seen, and her childhood love of American '50s and '60s sitcoms is cute. It doesn't really matter that the events leading to Wanda creating sitcom magic Westview through awesome power ("magic on autopilot" as Agatha says) are pretty much as we expected: it's all about the emotional beats.

And then there's the revelation at the end from Agatha: Wanda uses "chaos magic" and (let us old Marvel Zombies forget we knew this of old) she is the "Scarlet Witch", which no doubt means something in terms of MCU magic lore...

This was worthwhile. But bring on the finale...

WandaVision: Breaking the Fourth Wall

 "Agatha all along..."

This episode, like all the rest, is enormous fun. This time the sitcom fun comes from The Office-type mock documentary comedy, which fits perfectly with the theme of a depressed Wanda as her reality seems to fall apart- with even Billy and Tommy seeing, worryingly, to have disappeared by the end.

Meanwhile there's fun with clown Vizh and escape artist Darcy at the circus, followed by his feeding him much-needed exposition as Wanda's subconscious seems to delay them. The two of them make a great double act.

But the real hero- and in some ways the real star- is Monica, who heroically manages to fight her way into Westview once again, and it's hinted that she may have gained her Captain Marvel superpowers along the way. Her confrontation with Wanda is magnificent, and would have been the highlight of the episode... were it not for the revelation of Agnes as being Agatha Harkness, and that she has been the baddie all along... as attested by her awesome theme song.

Fourth wall... who needs it? I'm loving this.

WandaVision: All-New Halloween Spooktacular

 "Don't go past Ellis Avenue!"

It's clear by now that this is a phenomenal series, based around a superb central concept and oozing all the dramatic goodness out of each angle week by week so that each episode is better than the last. But never mind that: it's Halloween, so Vizh, Wanda and Pietro, for one week only, get to dress up in their proper costumes as Vizh, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Hooray!

Also, Pietro is quickly becoming my favourite laddish waster in television, in a very Nick Frost version of the character. And, if Tommy has his powers, does this mean Billy will be casting hexes?

But the plot continues to move in fascinating ways. Vizh has noticed that, in the fringes of town, people are ill-defined and can move less and less- and he sees one poor woman repetitiely performing the same action, Sisyphus-like, as a tear rolls down her cheek. It's a poignant contrast to Pietro's bro-like approval of his sister's handiwork in their heart to heart. And Vizh is spurred on to escape, especially as he comes across Agnes as, in a scene to give one the shivers, he frees her mind as he dis last episode with Norm- to be told that he's an Avenger, he's dead, and "No one leaves. Wanda won't even let us think about it."

Meanwhile, outside the literal Westview bubble, Director Hayward is proving to be such a dick that Monica, Jimmy Woo and Darcy are forced to leave and start their own gang- following which, interestingly, Darcy tells Monica that going through the barrier twice has altered her molecular chemistry. Please tell me she's going to get her Captain Marvel superpowers?

But the end is magnificent, as the Vision attempts to escape the bubbe despite the fact it means his death- of course, he explicitly said he never wanted to be resurrected in the first place. But Wanda expands the bubble to grab all of SWORD and turn them into a circus (ha!)- including a handcuffed Darcy, but not Monica, Jimmy or a Hayward who flees like a rat. Wow. I'm loving this.

WandaVision: On a Very Special Episode...

 "Just make her stop!"

Just when it seems WandaVision has peaked, it becomes clear it hasn't. After last episode departed from the format to give us an explanation, sort of, we now get another sitcom episode (it's the late '80s, with yet another theme tune), but with scenes of Monica, Darcy and Agent Woo outside of Westview. And, interestingly, the Vision is starting to notice the flimsiness of the fourth wall.

Outside of Westview we are gratdually seeing how Monica and Darcy make an awesome double act, and that Hayward may well just be a bit of a dick. But inside Westview the twins are growing up fast, and Vizh is beginning to notice things like the lack of other kids in Westview , how Agnes always seems to turn up with a solution at odd moments, how inconsistently time passes- and that the neighbours are all brainwashed, and suffering. We begin to see a rift developing between the supposed spouses. It feels like a pivotal episode, and it's utterly riveting.

And that's before we get to the final scene: Pietro is alive and well, and back! And they've recast him... with Evan Peters, who played the character in the X-Men movies. It's the perfect type of fourth wall-breaking way to cross over. This is simply inspired.

WandaVision: Now in Colour

 "Think you may have taken the hedge trimming too far there, old buddy!"

This is, on the one level, yet another episode of a retro comedy that is yet another deconstruction of an old-fashioned sitcom staple- in this case the pregnancy episode. Suddenly, while no one has aged and the supporting characters are the same people we're slowly getting to know, it's the '70s now- and a particularly exaggerated '70s where Geraldine has Pam Grier hair and the opening titles have gone all hilariously Brady Bunch.

And it works well, as comedy, on multiple levels. Yet the pretence that reality is slipping. There's a moment where Vision starts to work out the plot holes in his life so Wanda just rewinds things; this entire reality is clearly all here as wish fulfilment for her on some level.

And it is this that casts a disturbing light on Wanda's pregnancy and the birth of Billy and Tommy. I can't comment on any similarities with that '80s The Vision and the Scarlet Witch limited series (Bill Mantlo?), but I certainly remember what John Byrne would later do to the twins in the pages of West Coast Avengers. I fear for Wanda. Especially with what she seems to do to Geraldine (through a wormhole into what may be reality) when she blurts out that Wanda's brother Pietro was killed by Ultron.

I have thoughts about what may be going on. This is all a bit Life on Mars, but I suspect the resolution wont be simple. This is bloody good telly.

WandaVision: Don't Touch That Dial

 "Are you using your night vision, Vision?"

For a second wek in a row we get a genuinely funny piece of retro comedy... bt it's becoming more obvious that none of this is actually reality, and that it may represent a world that Wanda has retreated into in order to avoid an unpleasant reality.

The comedy is similar to last time, and represents more of '50s suburbia, and we're introduced to more of Wanda and Vizh's neighbours as they try to fit in. The comedy is great, with a stage magic act going all Tommy Cooper in entertaining fashion. Emma Caulfield from Buffy has a great part, too.

And yet... things from the real world are blending in. For the second episode in a week we get a mock advert- this time not Stark Industries but Strucker. And there's a scary moment at the end where the menacing noises from the start seem to be caused by a bloke in a hazmat suit emerging from a manhole... until Wanda seems to panic and alter reality. Hmm.

And Wanda is, impossibly, pregnant. Tommy and Billy, from that '80s Bill Mantlo limited series? Leading potentially to... well, what John Byrne went on to do in West Coast Avengers?

Regardless, this is magnificently original, brave and superb telly.

WandaVision: Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience

 "Oh, what kind of housewife would I be if I didn't have a gourmet meal for four just lying about the place?"

Yes, I know: I have loads more of the Netflix Marvel series to do (although apparently Kevin Feige has de-canonised them and there is bad blood), and I will do so, but the new stuff on Disney Plus is extremely zeitgeisty, so I'll do that firs. And WandaVision is a brilliantly brave and creative choice to be the first Marvel series on Disney's own streaming service- weird, genre-busting, metatextual and wonderful.

On the surface, this is an I Love Lucy-style '50s American sitcom episode, set in '50s middle American suburbia, in black and while, with the Vision doing an undefined (and lampshaded as such) job while Wanda stays at home as exactly the sort of housewife Betty Friedan was talking about. We even have a standard retro sitcom plot in that the boss is coming to dinner.

The comedy really works, especialy with the addition of Wanda's magical powers and Vizh being a synthetic being capable of phasing through matter. It's a fun, if short, half hour. Yet already there are hints in the background of something very odd. The titular couple can't remember anything about their pasts when pressed. Lots of detail about their lives are hazy. It's all quite deliberately made so as not to feel quite real.

So far I think it's all in Wanda's head, the grief of someone with hex powers. But we'll see...